Donsol, Sorsogon.

I've heard of the place once, in passing, while surfing the channels late in the night, looking for some show that would finally put me to sleep. It was a feature on some documentary show that's probably The Probe Team, telling stories about the whale shark, known locally as the 'butanding'. It caught my interest for a few minutes, but eventually wore off after seeing that to interact with them, you had to swim.

Something I wasn't capable of.

Yet, here I was, packing my bag (thanks to the sales talk by my good friends Yek and Monique), readying my trusty digital camera and a book for emergency boredom. Reading the itenerary, I didn't find much else interesting after the whale shark interaction so I made sure I had a backup plan in case I lose interest.

I didn't regret the decision.

The journey took me out of my routine comfort zones - a 11 hour bus ride to Legazpi City, waking up to Mayon's majestic silhouette immediately gave me this feeling of awe and admiration for nature. Dizzying but skillful driving by the minivan driver got us from Legazpi to Donsol in a mere 40 minutes. Once there, we changed into our swimming clothes and got ready to meet the 'gentle giant' - the butanding.

We were divided into 2 groups, each with a different banca, and prowled the seas to look for butandings to interact with. Our group was lucky to see seven butandings and despite my lack of swimming skills, one of the divers pulled me as he swam with amazing speed to interact with one of the butandings. It was huge. I've never seen a marine life form that large at that close distance (if I really reached out to touch it, I could but then we weren't exactly encouraged to do so). I thought that that would be the most unforgettable part of the trip.

Well, nearly everything else after was unforgettable.

We rowed little boats into Donsol's twin rivers to watch the fireflies. It was an awesome sight, seeing them light up the darkness, illuminating the trees - all while a local story teller tells us of local legends how fireflies came to be. It made me feel young again, listening to tales and different stories on how some things come to be.

We saw one of Albay's oldest churches - the Daraga church, whose beautiful baroque style reminds us of our history, heritage and faith. It has withstood time, and it's plainly beautiful to see our generation are able to see something from hundreds of years ago.

We spent time in Cagsawa Park picking out pasalubongs (it wouldn't be a trip without any), waiting for Mayon to come out of the cloud cover. A whole lot of assortment of local goodies, souvenir shirts, hats, candy and tidbits for family, friends and loved ones.

And there was dinner - fresh food from the sea: crabs, tilapia, pinakbet and other local delights such as Bicol Express. It was delicious and the food just kept on coming. I thought that whatever on the table was it - so it surprised me much that whenever one of the plates of crabs was cleaned up of its contents, there was another plate taking its place on the table. The organizers were generous with the food that I dont remember eating so much seafood in one sitting before that day.

A lot of local flowers were in bloom and they were a sight too. They colored the outskirts of the town and provided a lot of us in the group opportunities to capture them in photos. The people were warm and welcoming and leaving the following day made my heart heavy.

In all, I would have regretted missing this trip. It was a refreshing experience to be in one part of the country that I never thought I would be, that I had misjudged and mistook for uninteresting. Bicol is one place whose many facets are not as popular as other attractions or places. Yet, when you see hidden beauty in its caves, history churches, food, handicrafts, natural treasures and people, you will learn that there is more to a place than what is listed in an itenerary.